Project: The Right Direction Knife Crime DVD
Aim: To give young people something to do and to educate them on the dangers of knife crime
Funding: £1,000 from Positive Activities for Young People
The Right Direction is Norfolk's rebranded Positive Activities for Young People programme, which aims to give young people things to do to keep them away from crime. In summer 2007, young people in years seven to 10 from the Blyth-Jex School in Norwich created a DVD warning young people about the dangers of knife crime.
The young people wrote, produced, filmed, acted in and edited a short film showing the effects of carrying a weapon. The story focuses on a group of young people drinking and smoking in a park who then discover that one of them is carrying a knife. After expressing concern they meet an older man who asks for a cigarette. The young person carrying the knife is feeling the effects of the alcohol and the story ends with the man being stabbed.
The DVD includes the views of young people and a police perspective. Harry Town, Right Direction's programme manager, says: "The knife crime DVD is an excellent example of how young people from different backgrounds can come together to achieve a piece of work that has a real preventive impact on their community."
Leanne Marrison, 15, was involved in the project and says: "The violence scares me a bit. I've seen on the news about young people getting injured. We made the DVD to raise awareness of knife crime, antisocial behaviour orders and other things that go on."
The film is now being used by schools and youth groups across Norwich to illustrate the dangers of carrying weapons.
